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Brian Moore, marketing coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, holds a fat redear sunfish caught from a Nelson County pond. May is the best month to fish for redear sunfish. Watch on YouTube
This is the seventh installment of the “Spring Fishing Frenzy" series of articles, detailing productive fishing techniques and opportunities across Kentucky. These articles will appear on the second and fourth Thursday of the month. The series will continue until early summer.
A day spent catching fish from the bank of a pond or lake will hook a novice angler and entertain the most experienced one.
May traditionally offers good opportunities for anglers as fish move shallow to spawn - and into easy casting range.
I fished a small lake in Nelson County on May 2," said Brian Moore, marketing coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "We caught a few from the bank. Then, we found a bedding area near logs and brush in the headwater of this small lake. We caught at least 50 redear sunfish. As soon as we threw it out there, the bobber was gone.
Moore caught five redear sunfish on one redworm. "We were wearing them out," he said.
Redear sunfish use their plate-like roundness to pull hard against a fishing rod. Anglers often muse you could not land a redear sunfish if they grew to 5 pounds.
Kentucky and Barkley lakes hold bountiful populations of redear sunfish, with some fish pushing 12 inches in length. Both lakes earned an "excellent" rating in Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s 2021 Fishing Forecast.
Recent reports from both of these huge lakes relate the redear fishing is hot right now. The good fishing usually lasts until the third week of May or so. These two lakes offer the best chance at a trophy redear sunfish in Kentucky.
The redear, also known as a shellcracker because of its ability to crack open snail and small mussel shells, typically begins spawning when the water temperature climbs into the 70s. The water temperature at both lakes is 68 degrees this week.
Redears colonize like bluegill, but nest in deeper water. To locate shellcrackers, look for bedding bluegill up against a bank. Then focus your attention on deeper water a little farther out from the shore. If you start catching bluegill while targeting redear, try fishing near that spot but a little deeper.
When you begin catching redear, keep fishing that spot as more shellcrackers are likely near where you caught the first one.
Shellcrackers often gather in the backs of the bays in areas with gravel bottoms and vegetation like milfoil or mustard flowers. Redear key on the aquatic vegetation because they feed on snails and mussels. They have a plate of teeth in the back of their throats that can crush shells.
Good baits include the redworms that Moore used as well as wax worms, mealworms and crickets or small artificial baits like a jig in black or brown that mimics a snail or small insect. Fish these underneath a bobber and close or on the bottom.
Tackle shops around Kentucky Lake sell "bluegill bugs," a soft plastic grub with rubber strands run through it. Anglers tip these with wax worms and fish them on the bottom under slip bobbers for large redear sunfish.
Another option is crawling a redworm. Tie a hook a few inches above a 3/16-ounce weight – anglers call this a drop-shot rig – then slowly move it along the bottom until you locate fish.
Ultralight spinning tackle spooled with a 4- or 6-pound monofilament line is a great sport for redear sunfish.
McNeely Lake in Jefferson County, Cedar Creek Lake in Lincoln County, Elmer Davis Lake in Owen County, Clear Creek Lake in Bath County, Fagan Branch and Marion County lakes in Marion County, Lake Reba and Wilgreen Lake in Madison County and Pennyrile Lkae in Christian County also offer good opportunities to catch large shellcrackers.
The statewide daily creel limit is 20 fish and there is no size limit, but some water bodies have special regulations. Pick up a copy of the 2021 Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide or download one online at fw.ky.gov for details.